Medieval Re-Enactment Groups as a New Form of Recreation

• Authors: Władysław Mynarski , Bożena Królikowska , Bogusława Graczykowska
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Purpose. Medieval re-enactment groups known also as modern knight societies or fraternities have been developing rapidly in Poland and all over the world, in particular, for the last decade. The following study aims to show that membership in medieval re-enactment groups can be regarded as a novel form of physical recreation. The study focuses on various dimensions of membership, members' motivations, and benefits of participation in such groups. Basic procedures. The study was conducted in 2006 with members of two modern knight societies: "Opole" and "Chorągiew Ziemi Lwowskiej Księcia Władysława II Opolczyka" from Poland. All in all, 63 subjects (44 men and 19 women) aged 14-52 years, with different levels of education took part in the study. Main findings. The results obtained showed that the main reason for joining medieval re-enactment groups for the majority of subjects was to pursue their hobbies. The main expectation concerning membership in such groups is having fun, which was declared by over 50% of subjects. Moreover, over 50% of subjects expected to improve their frame of mind and experience diversity in their daily life as side effects of their membership in modern knight societies. Additionally, 61% of members who specialized in medieval combat re-enactment noted an improvement of their fitness level. Conclusions. Participation in medieval re-enactment groups can be regarded as a new and attractive form of physical recreation as well as an intellectual activity.

Keywords

EN

free time; physical recreation; medieval re-enactment; knight society; questionnaire study

• Publisher: De Gruyter Open
• Journal: Human Movement
• Year: 2010
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 89-94

Dates

published

1 - 6 - 2010

online

30 - 7 - 2010

Contributors

author

Władysław Mynarski

author

Bożena Królikowska

• Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy, Opole University of Technology, Opole, Poland

author

Bogusława Graczykowska

• Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy, Opole University of Technology, Opole, Poland

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10038-010-0006-2